The Bio Observer

 We were sitting in our hotel room in Cambridge, OH in the midst of a deluge when Murphy got the message from her supervisor. “NOOOOOOO,” she yelled out as she looked at her phone.  “What??” “Steve said the release is canceled because of the rain!” I had come down to Southern Ohio to help Murphy and the rest of the team at The Wilds release Eastern Hellbenders into streams in West Virginia. The Hellbender (AKA: snot otter, devil dog, Allegheny Alligator)  is the largest fully aquatic salamander in the United States and is listed as Near Threatened according to the IUCN Red List . The Wilds, a non-profit that operates in Cumberland, OH, conducts a head starting program for these unique organisms. Some of the Hellbenders that were going to be released were individuals that Murphy herself helped raise several years ago when she worked as an apprentice for The Wilds .  She had been back this summer as a volunteer to help with various projects and was especially excited to help release th

Hillsdale county sits directly next to the county I grew up in. Wait, actually no; I just realized it sits two counties away from my home county. So obviously I know nothing about Hillsdale county, let alone have ever been there. But that changed on June 23rd. For about a month on the Birding Michigan Facebook page, people had been posting the most stunning photos of a Red-throated Loon that was in Lake Baw Beese in the city of Hillsdale. This was strange, however, the Red-throated Loon is just a migrant here, it should’ve been up in the high Arctic with a mate and fledglings. But here it was an hour and a half away and it seemed like I had such a good chance of seeing it up close. Nevertheless, I made up excuses for not driving out there, Ehh work was hard and hot today It’s going to be too late by the time I get back I’ve got laundry to do Need to go to the grocery store today! For over a week I made up excuses not to drive out there to see this bird and to my disbelief the bird wa